Car dealer Pendragon's shares rallied by 15 per cent during morning trading, despite the company experiencing a slump in full year profits of 20 per cent. City investors responded positively to the company confirming that its new strategy will focus on the sale of used cars.

Although underlying pre-tax profits fell to £60.4 million in 2017, Pendragon's total revenue was up 4.5 per cent to £4.7 billion, driven by used car sales, which rose by 15.3 per cent on a like for like basis.

Pendragon boss Trevor Finn predicts revenue from the used market will double by 2021

Pendragon boss Trevor Finn discussing the segment of the market, where it trades as Evans Halshaw, said: 'The group has a clear focus and direction to transform the business and double used revenue by 2021.

'This will be enabled by our market leading software business to provide the online and technology platform and by investment in increasing the used retail and after sales representation points in the UK. We anticipate our performance in 2018 to be in line with expectations.'